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Have a Little Fun at your next Trade Show

Trade shows are a very serious thing for which businesses will invest massive amounts of money in in an attempt to raise their profiles and earn more custom. Trade shows can often be extremely competitive places, in which business will focus on things like ROI and ROO (Business speak for Return on Investment and Return on Objectives). This means that businesses can often forget about something else: fun. Trade shows can often be all work and no play and All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Trade shows and exhibitions don’t have to follow the norm.

Trade shows are all about meeting people. People are not robots. People need, and want, to have fun. If you and your business are seen to be having fun at a trade show or on your exhibition stands, you’re much more likely to attract people because you break the often tedious “just there to sell” atmosphere of a trade show.

But how can you be fun at a trade show? Well, there are many ways, from rewarding your team members who are the funniest, to counting games, and beyond. If you want to get serious about having fun (not too serious though, as nothing is worse than contrived fun) take a look at these suggestions*:

Friendly bets amongst your staff – Before you go to the trade show get your staff together to put down some friendly bets regarding certain things that might happen while you’re there. For example, there is always one colour that is popular for exhibition stands. This could be something like Neon Pink, Purple, and Blue, whatever. Have all of your staff pick the colour they think will be most popular, and the person who picked the colour with the fewest stands buys dinner that night.

Have some sort of physical fun activity in your booth, even if it’s completely unrelated to what you do. Wii games or Xbox Kinect are fabulous tools for trade shows. People can come along, try their hand at virtual boxing with their colleagues and then have a quick chat with you where you can mention what you actually do. Exercise also makes people feel very positive, so you’re probably more likely to make that sale as well. Plus, if you ever get bored, have a few rounds yourself!

Check out the city for any local businesses that do something cool. This could be something like go-karting, or even something extreme like sky-diving. Reward your team with something like this at the end of the trade show. Then, even if you’re not technically being fun at the trade show, you are going to be having fun. Have this reward planned regardless of how your team performs at the show. It will help your team relax, and feel freer talking to potential customers. Providing a relaxed atmosphere will make them more comfortable, and more likely to make a sale.

So there you go, some simple ways to have a bit more fun at the next trade show you attend. Before long, people will be asking to come along!

*they may not be considered professional, and you are responsible for your own actions!